In accordance with the European Union (EU) regulation 2020/852 of June 18, 2020 and its delegated acts (referred to as the “Taxonomy” regulation), Sodexo is required to publish, for Fiscal 2023, performance indicators that highlight the proportion of its eligible and aligned revenues, investments (CapEx), and operating expenditure (OpEx) associated with economic activities considered to be sustainable within the meaning of this regulation(1) for the six sustainability objectives mentioned in article 9 of EU regulation 2020/852:
An economic activity is considered as “eligible” if it is included in the list of activities described in the Taxonomy delegated acts.
An activity becomes “aligned” when it meets all the technical screening criteria, consisting of specific conditions and performance objectives necessary to demonstrate substantial contribution to one of the six environmental objectives; does not significantly harm the other environmental objectives; and if the Company complies with the minimum safeguards related to human rights, corruption, taxation and fair competition.
The financial information used to conduct this analysis was subject to self-assessment by country teams and additional reporting as part of the year-end closing. The indicators were reviewed and analyzed jointly by Corporate Responsibility and Finance teams, and supported by third-party experts, in order to ensure consistency of the decisions regarding eligibility and alignment, as well as consistency with Fiscal 2024 consolidated revenue, investments and operating expenses.
Taxonomy indicators for Fiscal 2024 are summarized below:
| REVENUES (%) FISCAL 2024 | CAPEX (%) FISCAL 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible | Eligible REVENUES (%) FISCAL 20242.3% |
Eligible CAPEX (%) FISCAL 20246.9% |
| Aligned | Aligned REVENUES (%) FISCAL 20240.0% |
Aligned CAPEX (%) FISCAL 20240.0% |
Sodexo carried out a review of its activities in the countries representing more than 90% of revenues and investments (CapEx), with a view to determining which ones are likely to be eligible within the meaning of the EU Taxonomy and its delegated act for the six sustainability objectives on the Taxonomy.
As of today, only some Facilities Management services provided by Sodexo are included in the EU Taxonomy:
Based on existing reporting processes, systems and estimates formulated by management and the subsidiaries, 2.3% of consolidated revenues(2), an amount of 558 million euros of eligible revenues out of a total of 23,798 million euros of the Group revenues, have been identified as eligible in the meaning of the Taxonomy, compared to 2.7% in Fiscal 2023.
Sodexo’s eligible CapEx includes:
The eligible CapEx identified mainly corresponds to increase of right- of-use assets related to leases on buildings and vehicles.
Following this analysis, eligible CapEx for Fiscal 2024 was assessed at 6.9% of total CapEx, compared to 21.1% in Fiscal 2023. Denominator amounts at 350 million euros and includes additions and scope entrance of tangible and intangible assets (excluding goodwill) as well as right-of-use assets. This decrease is linked to a significant drop in the acquisition and ownership of buildings between the two financial years.
Operational expenditure within the meaning of the Taxonomy Regulation is limited to costs linked to direct non-capitalized research and development, direct maintenance, and renovation of Sodexo assets (including direct cost of employees), and direct short-term leases. Given that the Fiscal 2024 operational expenditure of 1,301 million euros was less than 10% of Group operating expenses (representing 22,752 million euros as described in the 4.2.1 note), Sodexo has used the exemption provided in the regulation and has not published the performance indicator for eligible OpEx.
(1)1 Climate delegated regulation of June 4, 2021 and the appendices thereto supplementing (EU) 2020/852 by specifying the technical criteria for determining under what conditions a business activity can be considered as making a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation or adaptation; European Commission delegated regulation 2021/2178 of July 6, 2021 and the appendices thereto, supplementing (EU) regulation 2020/852 specifying the method for calculating the key performance indicators and the narrative information to be published; and European Commission delegated regulation 2022/1214 of March 9, 2022 modifying delegated regulation 2021/2139 and 2021/2178 (gas and nuclear).
(2) In accordance with Taxonomy regulation, denominator corresponds to the consolidated revenues of the Group, as presented in section 4.1 consolidated financial statements.
